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The EUs Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is expected on
Tuesday to agree with the Commissions assessment according to which
Cyprus, Malta, Belgium and Poland need no additional measures to reduce
their excessive deficit.

At the same time, on the Commissions recommendation, the Council is
expected to activate the next stage of the excessive deficit procedure
in the case of Hungary, which has not taken effective measures to
reduce its deficit.

As noted in ECOFINs draft decision, the Commission, based on the
existing information, believes that all four countries, Cyprus, Malta,
Belgium and Poland, have achieved, through their actions, sufficient
progress to correct their deficits within the timeframe set by the
Council of Ministers.

It is also noted in the text that the excessive deficit procedure was
initiated in July 2010, when the Council adopted a recommendation for
corrective measures. The Council had then estimated that special
circumstances prevailed in Cyprus in 2009 that could lead the country
into recession, for the first time in the past 35 years, and justified
correction of the deficit in the medium term.